My Top Mac Apps (Another Look)
Back on June 16th, 2007 I wrote about my favourite Mac apps after having my new iMac for two or so weeks. Now that it’s been another 5 months, I’m going to take another look at that. Things have definitely changed!
#5: Mail.app
I had been using Thunderbird up until about 3 weeks ago. Apple’s own email application is so much superior to the Mac version of Mozilla’s. Some reasons I like Mail.app over Thunderbird:
- Way better GUI. Hands down.
- Spam control is so much better. I actually switched because of spam.
- Tons more options and control, as well as personalization.
- Thunderbird’s Mac developers didn’t seem to be doing a great job at staying current, whereas that will never be the case with Mail.
#4: Azereus
Originally I was using Tomato Torrent for my downloading needs, but I’ll be honest with you: it sucked. Azereus is a Java application, so it works across most, if not all OS’s. It has a simple UI and offers great functionality. All I ask for a torrent app is to just work, and work well. Some things Azereus has over TT:
- Choose what files you want to download.
- A UI. It actually has one.
- Download more than one torrent at a time.
- You can “close” it (not quit) and it will still download.
- Tons more, just way better.
#3: Twitterific
I run Twitterific 24/7. That’s all that really needs to said. It may not have an amazing UI like a few of its competitors, but it’s unobtrusive and only bothers me when I want it to. If updating every 5 minutes is too much, I can change it in a second. With the new version adding Growl notifications, it only got better.
It pops up to update, and then disappears 10 seconds later. The convenience of this app is just amazing, which is why I use it.
They met come criticism in the new release by introducing ads, but they’re unobtrusive. Ads by the Deck add something rather than take it away, actually.
#2: Adium
I hadn’t tried this one out last time, and I’m glad I did. You can work from multiple accounts, have multiple conversations in one window, control your status, or control everything for that matter.
This really fits into the “can’t live withouot” category for most people. MSN for Mac is unacceptable and always will be, so it’s good there’s an alternative that is actually very good. The UI is amazing and will bend to your needs, and it’s easy to set up and use.
An extensive extras section of their website also adds to this app’s allure.
#1: Coda
The only other program on my Mac that runs as much as Twitterific is Coda. If not only for the great FTP app that’s built in, Coda is worth paying for. Not only is this app really, really pretty in terms of GUI, but it’s so feature rich. It’s no surprise Coda got some huge buzz when it was released.
I don’t make use of all the features, but the code editor, preview and FTP make this worth while. I just keep it minimized all day long and if need be I’ll drag something from finder to a folder and it’s done.
I admit- on Windows I was a Dreamweaver user. Never again, that’s all I have to say.
Honourable Mentions
Those are only five of the programs I use everyday (although my Adium contacts will argue that). There are some that don’t make the cut because I don’t use them all that much, but are great in their own right.
- iWork ‘08. Hell, this is worth it just to make pretty graphs in Numbers.
- Preview. It’s nice and convenient to get a quick look of pretty much an image.
Besides those 7 apps, there isn’t much that goes on other than the obvious: Firefox, Safari, iTunes, Photoshop, etc…
Leave a comment
Henry
November 19th, 2007 at 2:53 PM
Heck yeah! this new design rocks. I mean that, maybe a little work on the header but seriously this is AWESOME!
Now back on topic, i use all of those applications, except twitterific. Im thinking of using twitter a bit but i’m not too sure. Pfft preview, more like good old leopard’s Quick Look, and Cover Flow to my rescue.
Coda is a god sent application. I love it, i seriously mean that, i adore it so much i am considering buying it as my first application ever bought (excluding Leopard), if any applications makers are here i did not rip your software (debatable lol).
You never use Adium, but i totally agree with you. I can’t wait till Adium 2.0 comes out, it has video chat with it! Looks great.
I hated Azurez, i have stuck by Transmission as my torrent downloader, it has never gone wrong.
How do you set up Mail spam filter. I get horendous spam… Even so i love Mail it’s brilliant.
Razor
November 20th, 2007 at 10:08 AM
Azereus is the best torrent program i have ever downloaded. Brilliant program
Freebies
November 21st, 2007 at 12:13 AM
I completely agree that Tomato Torrent was a bit of a waste, but Azereus has never really done it for me either. I’m still patiently waiting for the mac version of utorrent to finally be completed.
What does everybody use for their rss reader? I find Vienna to be pretty good. And I totally agree with Adium rocking.
Connor Wilson
November 21st, 2007 at 6:53 AM
I’m waiting for the Mac version of uTorrent aswell. Azureus is kind of filling in for now, because uTorrent is faster, has a better UI and I’ve gotten used to it already.
Chris
November 26th, 2007 at 3:43 PM
What about quicksilver? By far one of my favorites.
Greg Cooper
March 14th, 2008 at 5:42 PM
I agree with Mail, Coda and Adium. I don’t use the others so I wouldn’t know about them.
Coda is the best piece of kit I have on both my iMac and MacBook. It made my life just so much easier when it came to editing my site. Originally I done everything through Dreamweaver but as soon as I was told about Panic I immediately switched full time. It’s worth a couple of hundred more than what it’s priced at so I would recommend it over any other product on the market.
Good choices
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